Coming Out as a Cultural Libertarian

Rise of the Cultural Libertarians by Allum Bokhari, Breitbart
I am a conservative Catholic. On a host of issues both political and cultural, I no doubt disagree with folks like Lauren Southern, Allum Bokhari, and Milo Yiannopoulos. All the same, I'm willing to take up their banner because I have personally witnessed the destruction aspiring authoritarians have wrought within our once thriving geek culture and do believe that pluralism is the only way out of this morass.
I believe in diversity -- genuine diversity in which honest people of all backgrounds and creeds are welcomed at fandom's table and invited into the conversation. And indeed, now is the best time to make that vision a reality. Thanks to Amazon and the march of technological progress, the gatekeepers no longer have the stranglehold on our field that they once did. So if you want to write a story influenced by Swahili folklore, go right ahead. And if you want to recapture the feel of the old Heinlein juveniles, well -- you can do that too. I'm willing to try both so long as you're sincerely interested in selling it to me and other readers. Enthusiasm speaks louder than hectoring.
What I don't believe in is the "diversity" of "ought" and "must not" -- the "diversity" of "shut up" and "punching up." This phony "diversity" is absolute poison for our community. When the so-called "forces of justice" repeatedly bully and libel those with dissenting opinions, they don't convince anyone of the rightness of their cause. Instead, they force that dissent underground, where it festers, becomes increasingly angry and resentful, and ultimately erupts in a Sad Puppies campaign -- or a consumer revolt like Gamergate. Meanwhile, the power-players in the fandom become an isolated monoculture, which has a disastrous impact on their ability to display the sort of empathy that true art requires.
The only way we can diffuse this tension - the only way we can save fandom - is to open the debate. No more de jure or de facto speech codes. No more trigger warnings. No more "safe spaces." Are people going to get upset sometimes once the boundaries have been blown apart? Certainly -- but as any practicing psychotherapist will tell you, avoidance does nothing to ameliorate these wounds. Only confrontation begets real progress -- and you can't confront what you forcefully silence.